Arch Linux in the Packard Bell BU45

I have just bought this laptop from Packard Bell (model PB BU45 O O61). The configuration of xorg and wifi have been a bit (just a bit) difficult, so I will be posting here my configuration files and my experiences. This wiki page is still a work in progress, if somebody is having problems, just send me an email at yiyu dot jgl at gmail.

X.org configuration

If you want to use the screen with its native resolution of 1280x800 (absolutely recommended) you will need the last drivers from intel. The package you will need is xf86-video-intel, available (atm) from the testing repositories.

Then, you will have to edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file in order to use this driver. Just edit your line in your Device section which tells Driver to Driver "intel". This is my xorg.conf file:

Be careful, because this file also sets my keyboard layout to Spanish. You probably won't need that line.

You can also activate scrolling with the touchpad installing the synaptics package and following the instructions in Touchpad Synaptics. Don't forget to read the messages when you install the package

Now, I would like to configure twin view to attach an external monitor to the laptop. It shouldn't be difficult, but I haven't tested it yet because I do not have physical space for the screen in my desktop (real life wood desktop).

Touchpad Configuration

Since this is a small touchpad, I prefer two finger scrolling ("a la" Macintosh), instead of the edge scrolling. This section covers that.

First of all:

sudo pacman -S synaptics

Then you can do:

man synaptics

And see all the options this amazing driver offers. Moving along, you'll have to edit your /etc/X11/xorg.conf file:

This configuration is what worked best for me, but you can disable VertTwoFingerScroll, and change the EdgeScrolls to "true". Be aware that to enable edge scrolling, maybe you have to change your RightEdge and BottomEdge values.

Using this driver, you won't be able to plug in an external USB mouse and use it right away. Not in Arch anyway.Thsi is what I did:

This section was written by Raul Silva. Any question/remarks, contact raul_nds in the Arch Forums.

Wifi configuration

The wireless card included in this laptop is an Intel® Pro WLAN 3945 Internal Wireless (802.11a/b/g 54 Mbps). I think you can use the ipw drivers, but they will be deprecated in favour of new iwl drivers, so we will be using the last ones. You will need iwlwifi and iwlwifi-3945-ucode packages.

The configuration is standard, as with any other wlan (I will try to document it more extensively in the future, but you can find good general instructions in the wiki) except that the drivers gives some problems if you do not pass the disable_hw_scan=1 option to the module when you load it into the kernel. To not have to do it manually each time, add this to your /etc/modprobe.d/modprobe.conf:

options iwl3945 disable_hw_scan=1

I do not know why you have to do it, neither what are its consequences, but it wasn't working and I found (I think in ubuntu forums or perhaps in some mailing list) that this little trick solves the problem.

To test your wireless connection you can use the instructions found on HOWTO-iwlwifi.

Sound

Sound works with alsa, so just check ALSA 's wiki page. The multimedia buttons (for volume) do not seem to work though.
Even if they did, with alsa, the primary control is always the headphone's, but the one that matters is the Front control. Annoying bug.

Vista Partition

If your laptop, like mine, was sold with Vista on an ntfs partition and you haven't completly get rid of it probably you will want to access to the data on that partition. The ntfs-3g driver works perfectly, just follow the instructions in NTFS Write Support.

Bluetooth

Bluetooth is working, just add dbus and {{Ic|bluetooth</th> to your daemons section in rc.conf (You will need to install the packages bluez-utils, bluez-libs and dbus with pacman). Then you can find devices with hcitool. I'm using it to connect to my mobile phone with obexfs. I created an entry in /etc/fstab to mount it with a simple mount /mnt/mobile. This is my modified /etc/fstab (it also includes the entry to mount the vista partition as a normal user):

Web cam

Card reader and fingerprint reader

I have read they do not work under Linux, though haven't looked into it yet. I just know the card reader is from Genesys and the fingerprint reader is an AuthenTec Inc AES1610 (its web page tells it is supported under Linux. Any help would be appreciated.

Hibernation

If you want, you can hibernate and resume your system with the help of the kernel26suspend2 kernel. I just followed the steps in the wiki page, and then found my system was hanging during the hibernation. I solved the problems adding this two options to the kernel parameter in /boot/grub/menu.lst : highres=off nohz=off

I found this solution in a forum and do not know why it wasn't working or why it works now. Some help would be welcomed.